HealthSouth restates 2000-02 earnings

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- HealthSouth Corp., fighting its way back from the accounting fraud that led to the criminal trial of founder Richard M. Scrushy, filed restated financial statements Monday that slashed more than $1 billion in profit and revenue from results originally reported for 2000-2002, according to a media report.

HealthSouth
HLSH
acknowledged profit from 2000 to 2002 was overstated by $1.23 billion and revenue by $1.87 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition. See Wall Street Journal story.

The company also reported 2003 results for the first time, saying it lost $434.6 million on revenue of $3.96 billion, The Journal said.

Those figures reflect the fact that HealthSouth's deteriorating financial condition began to level off after the fraud was exposed in March 2003, with turnaround experts taking charge of the company in mid-2003, according to The Journal.

The federal government has pegged the accounting fraud at roughly $2.7 billion from 1996 to 2002.

HealthSouth also disclosed it has received inquiries from parties interested in acquiring its diagnostic-services division, which offers magnetic-resonance imaging, X-rays and other services, The Journal reported.

Meanwhile, jurors ended their 20th day of deliberations Monday at the trial of the 52-year-old Scrushy, who is accused of 36 counts of conspiracy, securities fraud and one count of falsely certifying HealthSouth's financial statements under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Scrushy was fired as CEO but has refused to resign from the board.

Intraday Data provided by SIX Financial Information and subject to terms of use.
Historical and current end-of-day data provided by SIX Financial Information. Intraday data
delayed per exchange requirements. S&P/Dow Jones Indices (SM) from Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
All quotes are in local exchange time. Real time last sale data provided by NASDAQ. More
information on NASDAQ traded symbols and their current financial status. Intraday
data delayed 15 minutes for Nasdaq, and 20 minutes for other exchanges. S&P/Dow Jones Indices (SM)
from Dow Jones & Company, Inc. SEHK intraday data is provided by SIX Financial Information and is
at least 60-minutes delayed. All quotes are in local exchange time.